Public art displays large enough to be seen from space appeared at 18 locations worldwide in the lead-up to the United Nations climate change talks in Cancún, Mexico. The project, 350 Earth, calls for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the current 380 parts per million to a more sustainable 350.

Although aerial photos presented the messages most clearly, the events were designed to be photographed by Digitalglobe satellites orbiting 644 kilometres above. With the satellites travelling at over 27,000 kilometres per hour, there was a short window of opportunity to get the installations into place.

Hundreds of young people trekked into the desert to create this giant scarab beetle near Cairo, Egypt. The scarab represents rebirth and regeneration in Egyptian mythology: as it pushes its ball – the sun – across the sky, it causes the succession of night and day.

Organisers of the artwork chose this design as a call to re-examine our "modern relationship to this most abundant source of clean energy".